welcome to bbc news. i'm james reynolds. our top stories: president trump says he hopes to name a woman within the next week as his choice to replace the supreme court judge ruth bader ginsburg. the proposal triggers a battle between republicans and democrats about chosing a replacement before the us presidential election. stiff financial penalties for anyone in england who tests positive for coronavirus, but fails to self—isolate. the us delays plans to ban downloads of the chinese social media app tiktok after president trump approves a deal for oracle to buy its american operation. and in sport, the slovenian tadej pogacar is set to be crowned tour de france champion

after a dramatic turnaround. a political battle is shaping up in america following the death at the age of 87 of the supreme courtjudge ruth bader ginsburg, a champion of women's and minority rights. donald trump says he's likely to put forward a woman as his nominee. he told reporters he expected to make his choice next week. but his democrat rival, joe biden, insists the decision must wait until after the november poll. here's our north america editor, jon sopel. no, not the death of a rock star or a movie legend. this spontaneous vigil in washington last night is for a judge. the supreme court plays a critical role in american life and ruth bader ginsburg, or rbg, became a cultural icon. it was beyond my wildest imagination that i would one day become "the notorious rbg." i, ruth bader ginsburg...

she helped define modern america with the force of her legal argument on equal pay, abortion, the disabled, healthca re. and a determination that women should play as big a part in american public life as men. it contributes to the end of the days when women, at least half the talent pool in our society, appear in high places only as one—at—a—time performers. in herfinal years, despite multiple cancer diagnoses, she never missed a day of oral argument, feisty and formidable to the end. so what's the big deal? isn't this just another judicial appointment? well, no. a strong conservative majority now within sight on the supreme court will help shape america for decades to come. rbg's death has electrified the presidential election campaign — and who should fill her boots, and when, has become political dynamite. last night donald trump,

who seemed stunned by her death, was playing his cards close to his chest. whether you agreed or not, she was an amazing woman who led an amazing life. i'm actually saddened to hear that, i'm saddened to hear that. thank you very much. the flag at the white house may be flying at half mast, but politics goes on. donald trump making clear he's going to nominate a conservative replacement without delay. democrats though, led by presidential candidate joe biden, say no decision should be made until after a new president is sworn in. let me be clear that the voters should pick the president and the president should pick thejustice for the senate to consider. just before ruth bader ginsburg died, she made it clear she felt that her position shouldn't be filled

until after the election. it seems unlikely she will get her dying wish. john sopel, bbc news, washington. we can now speak to ilya shapiro who's the director of the robert a levy center for constitutional studies at the cato institute and publisher of the cato supreme court review. hejoins us now from washington. does anyone in america think that the nomination confirmation process works as it should? well, as ijust wrote in my book that is coming out ina wrote in my book that is coming out in a couple of days, supreme disorder, we are at a point where the supreme court is enveloped by the same toxic my asthma that envelops the rest of our public discourse. how we have got here is an interesting story. politics, as it turns out, has been part of the process from the beginning. george washington, the first

president, had a nominee to the supreme court rejected, for example. what is different now is that we have a combination of several major trends where different interpretive theories map onto partisan preferences ata time map onto partisan preferences at a time when the parties are more ideological in distinct and sorted then they have been at least since the civil war, if not ever. so as the supreme court in the federaljudiciary has played an ever larger role in american life, in deciding the largest critical controversies, of course every va ca ncy controversies, of course every vacancy is going to be fraught given, again, that zero—sum game with the combination of those trends. in many countries, including the uk, supreme courtjudges countries, including the uk, supreme court judges face countries, including the uk, supreme courtjudges face a mandatory retirement age. we hear almost nothing about the confirmation processes. by contrast, of course, us supreme courtjudges serve for life. the balance of the court can then depend on health of elderly justices. then depend on health of elderlyjustices. conduct change? is it a good idea to have a system like that? what

you're talking about his term limits, or mandatory retirement, i suppose. limits, or mandatory retirement, isuppose. term limits get talked about a fair bit. the typical proposal is an 18 year term, so there is a va ca ncy 18 year term, so there is a vacancy staggered every two yea rs, by vacancy staggered every two years, by definition, every four year presidential term would get two year appointments. it is an interesting idea. ithink generally, the public would support it. it would be a confidence building measure. it would not necessarily change the operation of the court. for example, if it went place currently, the court would have three george w bush nominees, four obama nominees and two trump nominees, or five republican appointed and four democratic appointed, which is what it has now, counting justice ginsburg's said. —— seat. that is the way things would work and it would not necessarily lower the average age, because all of a sudden people in the 60s would be considered again. so something worth considering, but in addition, it is so difficult to

actually get to a constitutional amendment. if there is the political will and unity to amend the constitution, then the problem that you are trying to resolve may be obviated in the first place. so it is a bit of a catch 22. we are basically left with modelling along through this political brinkmanship until something happens with the product of the supreme court is doing, making the court less important by pushing federal power back down to and localities and shifting power within washington, within the federal government, forcing congress to actually debate those big political controversies and clashes in values, rather than pushing everything into the executive branch, the administrative agencies and the presidency, which then gets sued and thrown into the court. so it has taken decades for a shift in the law and the way that politics is conducted, and i have no magic bullet. i don't think rearranging the deck chairs on the titanic with these mild structural reforms will really

do it. we are talking deep, substantive problems. let's talk names. president trump has said he is going to pick a woman. he said that at a rally in north carolina. there are two that keep being mentioned, a conan parrott and barbara lugo. what can you tell us about them ? lugo. what can you tell us about them? well, trump now has about them? well, trump now has a list of 44, you take of the older folks, and it a list of 44, you take of the olderfolks, and it is going to bea woman, olderfolks, and it is going to be a woman, so it really takes it down to about six or eight. one of them is amy coney barrett, federal circuitjudge in the midwest. she has been adjudged for only a few years, she was a professor at dame university law school. somewhere along the lines of a scalia or thomas type, and original list, viewing the constitution as it was enacted, as the public meaning of the words that were enacted. barbara lagoa is a newcomer. she has only been on the 11th circuit, which is based on ——

based in atlanta in the south—east, she is in florida. she is a cuban—american, she has a longer experience on the state bench as well as in the private sector. it really comes down to whether the president decides to go with somebody more of a deeper kind of intellectual record, but would be amy coney barrett, or formal political purposes, florida being a key state and hispanics being a key state and hispanics being a key demographic. because barbara lagoa does not have as long a track record on that. those are really the kinds of considerations, i think, but are going on. thank you so much. thank you. the uk government is to introduce stiff financial penalties for anyone in england failing to self—isolate, after a positive coronavirus test. from the 28th of september, those who break the rules will be fined £1000. this rises to £10,000 for repeat offences. the prime minister, borisjohnson, is also considering further restrictions after warning the uk is "now seeing a second wave" of coronavirus. here's our political

correspondent iain watson. here in preston, households are already banned from meeting other households in their homes, gardens or indoor venues. from tuesday, curfews will be imposed on pubs and restaurants in most of lancashire and merseyside, and tighter restrictions have already been imposed in other parts of northern england and in the midlands, covering around one in five of the country's population. i have close family that passed away with covid so i know exactly how this is serious. something needs to be done, but it's a shame we'll not see our families as much. and as the prime minister warned of a second wave of the virus, restrictions in lancashire could be a glimpse of the future across the whole of england. we had to be careful about making sure we can keep the r rate down so we're looking at the data, we have a far better set of data now than we had a few

months ago and we won't be afraid to use any restrictions necessary. the government introduced its rule of six only six days ago, yet this weekend, borisjohnson is poring over the data to find out if he needs to go any further. he wants to avoid a full national lockdown — he knows that could shatter a fragile economy. so any plans emerging from downing street in the next few days are likely to keep schools and offices open. but the prime minister also wants existing restrictions to be more tightly enforced. the government's scientific advisers have suggested that as many as four out of five people could be bending or breaking the rules on self—isolation. from the 28th of september in england, anyone with a positive coronavirus test or who has been contacted by the track and trace system will have a legal duty to self—isolate. those who don't could be fined £1000 initially, and up to £10,000 for repeat offenders. but if you're on benefits or on a low income and can't work from home, you will receive a £500 lump sum to encourage self—isolation. in preston, there was support for the idea of fining those

who tested positive and who broke the rules. the people going out of their way to ignore the guidelines, it's quite fair and proper that they should get punished quite severely. that's really not on, for them to be going out and about, and they should be fined. but i think the rules now are really, really complex. labour say they will support moves to control the spread of the virus but they wouldn't have started from here. i had to say i think this could have been avoided if the government had got their testing and tracing system in place and now we are having to look at more extreme measures because the virus is out of control. the cabinet was briefed by the government's medical and scientific officers today. the task now for the prime minister is to balance the health of the nation with help for the economy. iain watson, bbc news, westminster. france has announced almost

13,500 new confirmed infections — another daily record since the start of the outbreak there. the spike mirrors a rise in infections in many other parts of europe. more than 850,000 people living in and around spain's capital madrid are to be put under lockdown after a surge in the number of new infections. from monday, they will only be allowed to leave their local area to go to work and school or fulfil legal obligations. let's get some of the day's other news. two people have been killed in greece in a rare mediterranean hurricane. the storm, ianos, brought torrential rain and high winds to the ionian islands and western peloponnese. police say at least two other people are missing. meteorologists say cyclones were virtually unheard of in the area until the 1990s, when the mediterranean began to warm. the fbi and the us secret service are investigating the origin of a letter addressed to donald trump which media reports say contained ricin, a deadly toxin. officials have given no details but say the item was intercepted before it reached the white house. they said there was no threat to public safety. the us secretary of state mike pompeo has praised colombia

for its efforts to promote regime change and restore democracy in venezuela. after meeting president ivan duque in bogota, mr pompeo accused the venezuelan leader of promoting terrorism and drug trafficking in the region. mr duque said that mr maduro's position in power was untenable. president trump has approved a deal that would see american firms take significant stakes in the us arm of tiktok. the deal allows the app, which is currently wholly—owned by a chinese company, to continue operating in the united states. mr trump had previously threatened to shut it down, saying it posed a security risk. oracle and walmart are set to become partners in the business, but tiktok‘s current chinese owner, bytedance, would retain a large stake. conceptually, i think it is a great dealfor america. conceptually, i think it is a great deal for america. they will be hiring at least 25,000 people. it will most likely be incorporated in texas, it will bea incorporated in texas, it will be a brand—new company. it will have nothing to do with any

outside land, any outside country. it will have nothing to do with china. nicholas thompson is the editor in chief of wired magazine. he says a deal with oracle and walmart wouldn't end the controversy with tiktok. first of all, the deal has to be finalised. so, trump has given his blessing to the deal, but walmart and oracle and bytedance are going to have to finalise it. we will also have to see what the chinese government does. my guess is that it does get us much closer to an end point, where there is tiktok surviving, and where oracle will be a minority partner and her store the data, but it is not done yet. the white house premise has been that tiktok, owned by china, is a national security threat. is that true? potentially, yes. tiktok does have a lot of data on individual americans, and you can imagine a scenario where the chinese government

would request that bytedance give data on individuals they wanted to follow, or where americans' movement could be used by the chinese government. there's no evidence... sorry, even if most of those people are teenagers, doing dance videos? well, some of them are teenagers in the military doing dance videos. i mean, there are — i don't think that the trump administration's motivations are primarily about protecting american national security. i think they are primarily about being tough on china, which has political benefits. but there are some genuine national security concerns. nicholas thompson there. you are watching bbc news. the headlines: president trump says he hopes to name a woman within the next week as his choice to replace the supreme court judge, ruth bader ginsburg. stiff financial penalties for anyone in england who tests positive for coronavirus but fails to self—isolate. tens of thousands of people have gathered in the rain

in the thai capital, bangkok, calling for reform of the political system, and the monarchy. there have been a series of student—led demonstrations since mid—july growing in size as anti—government anger continues to grow. this protest, which is lasting two days, is expected to be one of the biggest, asjonathan head reports from bangkok. well, we've seen the momentum building throughout this year of this anti—government movement. frustrated by a lot of issues — the economy has been hammered by covid, the government that's in office now took power away, which most people regard as questionable under a constitution written by the military and there've been a number of scandals. and that's brought people from all generations out in opposition to the government — this is the most ambitious rally yet, at thammasat university, which has long been associated with dissent. but perhaps more important, some of the students are also pushing for changes to thailand's monarchy. that is a very, very new development in a country

where the royal institution has always been regarded as untouchable. so there's a sense of change and of danger here, too, about where this protest movement will lead. now i've got four young freshman here from thammasat university who've come to join this protest. can i ask you first of or why you've come? what are the issues that you're concerned about? we came today because we want to see the change of our regime. we want to ask our government to change a new constitution. do you want changes to the military, the army? because in thailand, the army is always so powerful. yes. i want the military to decrease their power, and the budget for the military to do something else, notjust the military. some of the student leaders have said that the monarchy must be changed. this is very new, we've never seen this in thailand before. but we all know it's a very

sensitive issue and people are very nervous about speaking about it. do you feel you can talk about the monarchy and ask for change? the monarchy have lived in thailand for a long time. and we still respect them. i know the protesters have said there should be less money spent on the monarchy and less power over the army. i'm not sure that i can talk about this, it's very sensitive. even if you're nervous — some of the student leaders today will talk about the monarchy while you're here. your parents must be worried. we are nervous but we still want to join this protest because we want everyone to continue protesting.

jonathan head reporting from bangkok. a us—imposed deadline hasjust passed which said all un economic sanctions should be re—imposed on iran because it's breaching the nuclear deal it signed in 2015. president trump tore up the nuclear accord two years ago, but the us says it can still trigger a clause that would re—establish sanctions. hundreds of opposition activists have been detained by the belarusian security forces at the latest women's march demanding the resignation of president alexander lukashenko. men in green uniforms and black balaclavas surrounded the protesters, who responded with chants of "only cowards beat women". paul hawkins reports. chanting another saturday, another anti—government protest in the belarusian capital, minsk. 2000 women marching against president lukashenko against the allegedly rigged election which he claims to have one legitimately six weeks ago. "people united will never be defeated" they chant. and then...

..the men in balaclavas arrived. men from the government, taking away its own people. "shame, let them free," shouted these women, trying to stop their fellow demonstrators being dragged away. others shouted "only cowards beat women". the police wouldn't say how many were detained but one local human rights groups claims it was 300, including this 73—year—old great—grandmother, nina bahinskaya, a regular opposition activists and now an icon for this protest movement. she was taken to a police station and later released. so too many others, because the police simply didn't have enough vans to take them away. a sign that the authorities' crackdown is having little effect, with more protest planned for sunday. the sixth consecutive weekend. paul hawkins, bbc news. the slovenian cyclist tadej pogacar is to be crowned

the tour de france champion on sunday, following a remarkable turnaround on the penultimate day of the race. he overhauled the favourite, his compatriot primoz roglich, who had been leading by almost a minute. nick parrott reports. it's been described as one of the greatest rides in the history of the tour de france. this was tadej pogacar‘s debut in the race. primoz roglic is the reigning champion of the tour of spain — it was youth against experience. a 57—second gap at the start of the stage turned around in dramatic fashion. pogacar is the slovenian time trial champion and went for it from the start of the 36km route. when he finished, taking the top spot, roglic was still on the road, but he knew he couldn't catch his compatriot. pogacar won his third stage and, more importantly, the whole race by almost a minute. two days short of his 22nd birthday, his celebrations are sure to go on for weeks. nick parrott, bbc news.

north korea's propaganda machine could never be accused of being ahead of the curve. but there are signs of change signalling a new, more modern approach. pyongyang is believed to be behind several youtube and twitter accounts, aimed at foreign audiences, promoting a benign vision of the country, including a recent video series in english about life in pyongyang. krassimira twigg from bbc monitoring reports. ri chun—hee, the face of north korean state propaganda for decades. now compare this with young video blogger un a. hello, my dearfriends. hi, i'm on a farm today. un a is one of the hosts of recent youtube videos about life in pyongyang aimed at foreign audiences. she seems approachable, relatable, and authentic. this north korean operation is fully focused on beautiful women. there's a little bit of north korean—style sex

appeal being inserted into this campaign, just to get people to start thinking in a different way about north korea, beyond the nukes. pyongyang is believed to be behind several social media accounts that are racking up the numbers by promoting a more modern video blogging style. this campaign is an effort to finally push back against what is almost completely saturated anti—north korean message in the foreign media. so today, i've decided to take you to some place cool. they're trying to access the young audience on twitter and youtube, and show them how modern north korea is. but it's still really heavy with propaganda. these videos purport to give foreign viewers rare access to the notoriously secretive state.

but how authentic is this access? it's very much an act of ventriloquism. north korea is really trying to control what we see and how we see it. for instance, if you watch the images of the people in the fairground, there are far more adults. everybody is of the same age. the same thing with the restaurant. there's nobody in the restaurant except for two staff and two individuals who are eating — both of them alone. everything looks very staged, to the point of extreme artificiality. and while this new strategy has provoked curiosity as it opens a new window into workings of the state propaganda, it has also alarmed for its potential to provide a soft power boost to a country with a dire human rights record.

let me know what you're up to. you can reach me on twitter. i'm @jamesbbcnews. do stay with us. they will be back at the top of the hour. hello. the first half of the weekend was dry, sunny and warm for many of us, and sunday promises more of the same. more dry weather, more warm sunshine, but there will be some exceptions. down towards the south, still the potential for 1—2 showers. you can see on our earlier satellite image, this swirl of cloud, low pressure across western europe that has thrown a few showers through the channel islands and the south of england — could be 1—2 more of those around through the day ahead. also, quite a lot of cloud across a good part of scotland, particularly around the northern and eastern coasts, through the central belt, and then down the eastern side of england. now, that low cloud of mist will tend to retreat towards the coast as the day wears on. so many spots will brighten up with some sunshine. but for northern coasts of scotland, and certainly shetland, it will stay, likely, quite grey through the day. for many other parts

of scotland, though, it will brighten up with some spells of sunshine. a fine looking day for northern ireland, 17 degrees in belfast. some north sea coasts of england staying grey, cloudy and cool. still a bit breezy further south, but with quite a lot of sunshine, temperatures getting up to 23—25 degrees. now, that breeze will be easing all the time. the winds falling light through sunday night into monday. that will allow some patches of fog to develop across some parts of england and wales. not as much fog further north — where it will be a rather chilly night, temperatures for some spots down into single digits. so, monday morning will dawn with some areas of cloud and fog across some parts of england and wales. that should tend to clear fairly quickly and then we see lots of sunshine. a bit more cloud rolling in through northern ireland and western scotland through the day — with some outbreaks of rain into the northern and western isles through the afternoon. it's another warm day with temperatures for many getting up into the 20s. but from tuesday and into the middle part of the week,

things begin to change quite dramatically. low pressure will take control. frontal systems bringing outbreaks of rain, some brisk winds at times, and we are going to start to tap into some much, much cooler air. temperatures are going to take quite a tumble. there is a bit of uncertainty aboutjust how long that cooler spell will last, but you can see those temperatures dropping as we move through the coming week, and we will start to see some outbreaks of rain and some brisk winds at times.

this is bbc news. the headlines: president trump says he's hoping to name a woman within the next week, as his choice to replace the supreme court judge ruth bader ginsburg. the proposal has triggered a battle, between republicans and democrats about chosing a replacement before the us presidential election. the british government says it's going to impose stiff financial fines on people in england who fail to quarantine themselves, as part of coronavirus restrictions. anyone who tests positive for the infection or is contacted through the test and trace system will be legally required to self—isolate. americans will be able use the video sharing platform tiktok for at least a week longer after authorities delayed a ban. the app's chinese owners are finalising a deal for oracle to handle its us operations. president trump has accused tiktok of threatening national security, which it denies. now on bbc news, dateline london.